Combination stock

I'm planning on making some lollies for my 4 legged girls...Rusty and Cindy....Rhonda has a great recipe for dog biscuits over at Down to Earth.....

I usually just make Chicken stock every weekend which provides me with soup for the week....but as I want some stock for the girls treats; I decided to go all out, buying chicken carcasses...and beef bones.

When I make a stock, I usually put some herbs in from the garden as well....and some veg too....It all adds to the lovely flavour of a stock. There is no hard and fast rules to making a stock...although some would have you believe otherwise.....I always just use what I have on hand....especially if I have any older veg or am preparing veg for dinner....I will always add the peelings too....Yep! the peelings...they will eventually go in my bokashi bucket...but I'm getting as much goodness from them as I can first.

Cilantro, Parsley, Purple basil (stems), garlic chives & Rosemary.
Instead of throwing those old stems of herbs in the compost
use them in your stock first,
there is plenty of flavour in the stem of a herb.

Chicken Carcasses $1.25 per kilogram.....$1.90
Beef Bones $2.99 per kilogram......$4.60

Bundle up your herbs with an elastic band
also both ends of the leek from my Leek soup
as well as carrot and parsnip tops, leftover from dinner prep.

as well as any peelings from preparing your veg for dinner

 While starting this stock, I always prepare the veg for that night's meal....this makes one mess to clean up..and they will be fine sitting in the steamer until I'm ready to turn it on.

after pinching some foe my Leek Soup.
Don't stir up your stock once it get's to this stage
Stirring your stock will make it cloudy.

After your stock has been simmering for a few hours, remove the bulkier items from the liquid, then using a cloth over your strainer, strain the liquid, being careful not to disturb the sediment.....

If you would like to remove the fat's in the stock, (although I don't, unless it is really oily)
store it in the fridge overnight, this will allow the fat to settle on the top of the stock. simply scrape the top fatty layer off your stock and it is ready to use.